| 1 | I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. | |
| 2 | He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; | |
| 3 | indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. | |
| 4 | He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. | |
| 5 | He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. | |
| 6 | He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. | |
| 7 | He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. | |
| 8 | Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. | |
| 9 | He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. | |
| 10 | Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, | |
| 11 | he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. | |
| 12 | He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. | |
| 13 | He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. | |
| 14 | I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. | |
| 15 | He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. | |
| 16 | He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. | |
| 17 | I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. | |
| 18 | So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." | |
| 19 | I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. | |
| 20 | I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. | |
| 21 | Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: | |
| 22 | Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. | |
| 23 | They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. | |
| 24 | I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." | |
| 25 | The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; | |
| 26 | it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. | |
| 27 | It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. | |
| 28 | Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him. | |
| 29 | Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope. | |
| 30 | Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. | |
| 31 | For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. | |
| 32 | Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. | |
| 33 | For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. | |
| 34 | To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, | |
| 35 | to deny a man his rights before the Most High, | |
| 36 | to deprive a man of justice--would not the Lord see such things? | |
| 37 | Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? | |
| 38 | Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? | |
| 39 | Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? | |
| 40 | Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. | |
| 41 | Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: | |
| 42 | "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. | |
| 43 | "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. | |
| 44 | You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. | |
| 45 | You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. | |
| 46 | "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. | |
| 47 | We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction." | |
| 48 | Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. | |
| 49 | My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, | |
| 50 | until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. | |
| 51 | What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. | |
| 52 | Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. | |
| 53 | They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; | |
| 54 | the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. | |
| 55 | I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. | |
| 56 | You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief." | |
| 57 | You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear." | |
| 58 | O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. | |
| 59 | You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! | |
| 60 | You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. | |
| 61 | O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me-- | |
| 62 | what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. | |
| 63 | Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. | |
| 64 | Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done. | |
| 65 | Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! | |
| 66 | Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. | |